Horry County Clerk of Court

The Horry County Clerk of Court Office

The Horry County Clerk of Court is Renee N. Elvis, also known as The Hon. Renee Norris Elvis. She was first elected in November 2016. Before that she worked for the Horry County Sheriff for more than a decade. The official Clerk of Court page invites the public to call 843-915-5080 when the site does not answer a question.

This is an elected county office, not a private records firm. The Clerk serves two trial courts. One is the Circuit Court, which has a civil side called the Court of Common Pleas and a criminal side called the Court of General Sessions. The other is the Family Court, which hears divorce, custody, support, and juvenile cases. The Clerk does not keep land or deed records. Those go to the Register of Deeds, a separate office under the county's split clerk setup.

Most users find the office through the county website first. The county page carries the Clerk's message, the phone directory, the public portal links, and the office hours.

A screenshot helps show how the Horry County Clerk of Court department page is laid out.

From that page you can reach the public portal, court rosters, child support payment tools, juror information, and passport links in one spot.

What the Horry County Clerk of Court Does

The Clerk of Court is the official record keeper for Circuit and Family Court. The office takes new filings, stamps them, builds the case file, and tracks every action through final judgment. It collects filing fees and certain court payments. It manages the jury pool and sends juror summons. It also serves as a public contact point for case lookups, court schedules, and copies.

South Carolina runs a unified court system, so the Clerk's local work connects to statewide tools. Case data flows into the state Public Index. Family and child support matters connect to a state public portal. The Clerk page also links court rosters, passport services, and juror information. The office does not decide cases or give legal advice. It moves the paper, keeps the record, and points people to the right tool.

• Files and maintains Circuit Court and Family Court case records.
• Issues certified copies of orders, judgments, and case documents.
• Collects filing fees and court-ordered payments at the window.
• Manages the jury pool and mails juror summons.
• Posts weekly court rosters and settlement hearing rosters.
• Provides passport acceptance and federal travel links.

For the courtroom side of these cases, see the Horry County Circuit Court page. Divorce and custody filings are covered on the marriage and divorce records page.

Systems the Horry County Clerk Links

The Clerk connects the public to several online systems instead of one single database. Each tool covers a different need. Knowing which one fits your task saves time and avoids dead ends. The two main ones are the family court Public Portal and the statewide Public Index.

The South Carolina family court Public Portal is the public-facing portal linked from the Clerk page for family and child support matters. It runs through the state Family Court Case Management System. A look at the portal shows what users see when they open it.

That portal is separate from the general case index, so a family matter and a civil matter may live in different tools.

The other main tool is the South Carolina Public Index, the statewide trial court case search. The direct Horry search screen is the Horry County Public Index. It is free, but your browser must allow cookies and JavaScript, and you must accept a disclaimer and type a security code.

As of January 1, 2026, home addresses no longer appear on the Public Index, a privacy change the state made across all counties.

Beyond those two, the Clerk page links child support online payments through DSS and SC.GOV, weekly court rosters, settlement hearing rosters, passport and federal travel pages, and juror summons information. The Horry County court rosters portal lets you pull the trial schedule by court and term.

Settlement hearing rosters are split into two terms for 2026, one for January through June and one for July through December.

Note: the Public Index is a free search, but it does not post a document image for every case, and certified copies still come from the Clerk.

Horry County Clerk of Court Contact and Hours

The Clerk runs two offices. The main office is in Conway at the judicial complex. The second is the South Strand office near Myrtle Beach, which serves the busy beach side of the county. Both keep the same weekday hours. Use the street address, not the P.O. Box, when you map a visit.

The Clerk directory also lists separate phone lines by division. Family Court is at 843-915-5081, Common Pleas at 843-915-5083, and General Sessions at 843-915-5084. Mail addressed to the Clerk should use the Conway P.O. Box.

The South Strand Clerk of Court Office

Not every court visit means a drive to Conway. The South Strand office at 9630 Scipio Lane in Myrtle Beach serves the lower end of the county. It gives Grand Strand residents a closer place for some Clerk business. The phone line there is 843-915-5082.

Hours match the Conway office, Monday through Friday, 8am to 5pm. If you are not sure which office holds your file or takes a certain payment, call first. A short call can save a long trip. The main Conway office remains the hub for Circuit and Family Court filings.

Child Support and Court Payments

The Clerk collects several kinds of court payments. Child support runs through the state public portal and DSS, with online payment options linked from the Clerk page. Many routine county payments can still go through by credit card on the county website. But one payment type has a strict rule.

A purge payment is the set amount a judge orders someone to pay to clear a contempt finding, often to avoid jail. Because of that, the Clerk takes it only in cash at the window. Plan ahead and get cash before you arrive. For other payments, ask the Clerk which method the office accepts for your case type.

Horry County Clerk of Court Forms

The Clerk posts a long list of forms for civil and family filings. Self-represented filers use these to start or change a case. The Clerk of Court forms page holds packets, cover sheets, and motion templates. Pick the form that matches your court and your action.

The page mixes PDF and DOCX files, so download the one that opens cleanly on your device.

The table below lists the main Clerk forms and what each one is for. It is a guide, not the full library, and the official page may add or change items over time.

Other forms on the page include acceptance of service, Form 4 for civil and family court, motion and order templates, a visitation divorce packet, surety bond instructions, and a media coverage request. State self-help divorce forms link out to sccourts.org.

Horry County Clerk Records Fees

Fees depend on which office holds the record and what you request. The county publishes some copy fees through its FOIA schedule and through Probate Court, but the Clerk's own certified-copy fee for Circuit and Family Court files is not posted on the pages reviewed. The amounts below come from official county sources. Confirm the current fee before you pay.

The FOIA fees come from the county Public Information Office. The probate copy fees apply to estate and marriage files, not Circuit Court files. Because the Clerk's Circuit and Family certified-copy fee is not published, call 843-915-5080 to confirm it before you visit.

The county probate forms library is linked from the Clerk-related pages too. You can see the Horry Probate Court forms library for estate and guardianship documents.

Probate files are handled by a different office, so estate copies follow the Probate Court fee schedule rather than the Clerk's.

How to Request a Certified Copy

A certified copy is an official copy the Clerk stamps and signs as a true copy of the record. Courts, agencies, and many out-of-state offices accept only certified copies, not printouts from the free index. The steps below cover a Circuit or Family Court file at the Horry Clerk of Court.

1. Find the case first. Use the Horry County Public Index to get the case number and the exact party names.
2. Note which court holds the file. Common Pleas, General Sessions, and Family Court each have their own division line.
3. Call the Clerk at 843-915-5080 to confirm the certified-copy fee and how the office takes payment.
4. Decide how to request. You can go in person to the Conway or South Strand office, or mail your request to PO Box 677, Conway, SC 29528-0677.
5. Give the case number, party names, the document you want, and how many certified copies you need.
6. Pay the fee at the window or include payment with a mailed request, and allow extra days for mail turnaround.

Bring a photo ID and have the case number ready. A clear request moves faster than a vague one. If the document is sealed or restricted, the Clerk cannot release it without a court order. For a plain look at a docket, the free Public Index is enough, but it is not a certified record.

Clerk of Court vs Register of Deeds

Horry County splits its record-keeping between two offices, and people mix them up often. The Clerk of Court keeps court case files for Circuit and Family Court. The Register of Deeds keeps land records, such as deeds, mortgages, plats, and liens. They are not the same office, and a request sent to the wrong one comes back unfilled.

If you need a court judgment, an order, or a divorce decree, that is the Clerk. If you need a property deed, a mortgage, or a recorded lien, that is the Register of Deeds. The current Register is Marion Dargan Foxworth, at PO Box 470, Conway, SC 29528, reachable at 843-915-5430. Full detail is on the Horry County Register of Deeds page.

This split is common across South Carolina counties. It keeps land recording apart from court case management. The Probate Court is a third office, and it handles estates and marriage licenses.

Related Horry County Court Records

The Clerk's files connect to other record types across the county system. Knowing where each one lives helps you skip the wrong office. The Clerk holds the court case file, but related records may sit with the courtroom, the Probate Court, or the public records office.

Case dockets and hearing schedules surface through the rosters and the Public Index, and the court dockets page explains how to read them. Broad case lookups are on the Horry County court records page. For open-records requests on administrative county files, the public records page covers the FOIA process. Together these tools cover most of what the public asks the Clerk for, from a single case file to a full records request.